We began our day with a short 7-mile run to 7-Mile Creek Park to meet some very enthusiastic youngsters from the YMCA.

Our local coordinator, Yuyudhan, brought the torch in himself. It always a big boost to the team when you have the person who arranged the ceremonies also directing you to them.

We offered our presentation...

...and played our game.

We sang our song!

Then we got to the really fun part...

...we ran with the torch. The children asked a lot of great questions and really seemed to have a ball.

The councilors were all grateful to have us. Thank you so much for taking the time to meet with us and share in our message that "harmony begins with me!"

Our Czech runner, Misa, was excited about her city's namesake.

On the road from Mankato City to Minneapolis the Berkenpas family saw our runner and stopped at the car to ask us about it. Here they are holding the torch together - Brian, Chris, Arielle, Hunter and Dayanera. They are perfect examples of our motto "harmony begins with me", being immediately ready and willing to add their harmony wishes to our journey, and they kindly gave us a donation too. Thanks for stopping and for your enthusiasm!

The whole team was extremely grateful to be treated by Jim Olson and his daughter, Erin, from Motioncare, for their excellent therapy. They are world reknowned for their expertise and we all fully understand why! Thank you so much.

And for our last event today, some of the team then went to the Lake Harriet Bandshell in Minneapolis to announce the World Harmony Run to people who were gathering for tonight's concert showcasing top Minnesota singer-songwriters.  Thanks to the artists and to the Lake Harriet Concert Series for allowing us a few minutes on stage.

Our friend Betsy from White Bear Lake who ran with us in 2008 greeted us, and introduced her daughter Lynn, who also wanted to run with us this evening.  Betsy held the torch and was joined by Lynn, Pritika, and Yuyudhan in a nice run around Lake Harriet.  Betsy and Lynn said they definitely want to run with us next time!  They love the Run because it's so pure!  Thanks to Betsy, Lynn, and the nice audience at Lake Harriet who so warmly welcomed us this evening!  It was a nice end to the day!

– Kokila and Atulya

Distance: 78 miles

Team Members:
Atulya Berube (San Diego), Jagadhata Amrhien (Chicago), Drsalu Gruenstaeudel (Austria), Vladimir Salnacov (Moldova), Mark Collinson (England), Kokila Chamberlain (England), Surya Smolennikova (Russia), Kshetragna Ulanova (Russia), Dima Grygorievski (Ukraine), Sukhada Korshunova (Russia), Michaela Pokorna (Czech Republic), Yuyudhan Hoppe (Minneapolis), Megabhuti Roth (Minneapolis)

Harmonemail:
You can send a message to the runners or read the messages.

Gallery: See more images!